Ecolab Center has a public plaza on Wabasha and an enviable location near several plazas and Rice Park, where those spots will see dozens of people eating, lounging and contemplating at lunchtime on warm weather days.

An office tenant has signed a 12,400-square-foot lease at the MoZaic, a $45 million project that raised eyebrows last year when the developer, the Minneapolis-based Ackerberg Group, decided to build speculative or “spec” office space — a rarity in today’s still-challenging climate for office leasing.

The MoZaic project in the Uptown area of south Minneapolis has landed its first tenant: Bar Louie, a franchised neighborhood bar and restaurant concept that will open next spring on the project’s ground level.

The owner of Stella’s Fish Café recently sold the restaurant’s West Lake Street building for nearly twice its assessed value in a multimillion-dollar sell-leaseback agreement — another sign that Minneapolis’ Uptown neighborhood remains a real estate hot spot even as the economy languishes.

As the north side digs out from the damage wrought by the May 22 tornado, the city of Minneapolis is considering establishing a new redevelopment project area that could include tax-increment financing.